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Remember the first time you learned about the Internet? Hopefully, it didn’t take place while you were on live TV. In 1994, the Internet was still in its early days. It was not yet the ubiquitous part of our lives that it is today. So when Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel tried to explain the Internet on the TODAY Show, they were met with a lot of confusion.
Here’s the hilarious TODAY Show Internet segment as it happened on live TV and why we are still talking about it years later.
TL;DR
This vintage 1994 clip of the TODAY Show exposes former TODAY Show hosts Katie Couric, Bryant Gumble, and Elizabeth Vargas talking about this new “Internet” thing and a weird “@” symbol. They even debate whether the “@” stands for “about” or “at”?
How Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel Tried To Explain the Internet to TODAY Show Viewers in 1994
After a graphic with an email address appeared on-screen, Gumble and Couric struggled to pronounce basic Internet terms like “@” and “.com.”
The TODAY Show anchors also had a hard time understanding how the Internet worked. Gumbel asked, “What is this ‘information superhighway’ that people keep talking about?” Couric suggested that the internet was “like a big library.”
The anchors even had to ask a crew member to explain the internet to them. The crew member did his best, but it was clear that even he was struggling to understand the technology.
NERD NOTE: This clip from the TODAY Show wasn’t part of the main broadcast. It took place during a brief break known as a “co-op” that only a handful of satellite subscribers got to see.
Even The NBC Graphics Department Got It Wrong.
Even the graphics department got the Internet wrong. At around the 0:40 second mark in the video, a graphic showing an email address with an “a” inside a circle instead of an @ symbol. Oops!
Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel’s Attempt to Explain the Internet in 1994 Is a Reminder of How Far We’ve Come
The video of Couric and Gumbel’s attempt to explain the internet is now a classic. It is a reminder of how far the internet has come since the mid-1990s. Today, we take the Internet for granted. We use it to do everything from shopping to banking to socializing. But in 1994, the internet was still a mystery to many people.
The next time you are using the internet, take a moment to appreciate how far it has come. The Internet in the 90s vs today is very different. Just be grateful that you don’t have to rely on Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel to explain it to you.
NBC News Is Embarrassed By This “What Is The Internet” TODAY Show Clip
Various clips of this TODAY Show video have generated millions of views on YouTube. NBC hasn’t been too happy about all the attention that this TODAY Show Internet confusion clip has been getting. They’ve taken it off YouTube multiple times already. If this clip goes down again, please let us know. What a fascinating, and funny look at the beginning of an upcoming revolution.
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Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
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